FN Dish

3,300-year-old beer, DNA-coded olive oil and DIY food porn

A Well-Aged Brew: Psst. Want to try some 3,300-year-old beer found in the bottom of a coffin? That might not sound so appetizing, but a little context may help. The drink is
inspired by an ancient fermented liquid — made of wheat grains, pollen, malt, honey, bog myrtle and cranberries — found in a
bark bucket next to the remains of a well-preserved Bronze Age teen known as
Egtved Girl. The National Museum of Denmark has teamed up with Skands Brewery to re-create the beverage,
marketing it as Egtved Girl's Brew (Egtvedpigens Bryg — 5.5% ABV). Guess there was no minimum drinking age back in the Bronze Age. [
Past Horizons]

An Olive Oil Breakthrough: Wild. In order to ensure that expensive olive oils are genuine and not counterfeit, scientists in Zurich, Switzerland, have come up with ways to "tag" oils using teensy magnetic DNA particles that are encapsulated in silica and mixed into the oil. The tags contain information about the oil, such as its source and quality, and can be analyzed with the help of these particles if counterfeiting (apparently a big business) is suspected. "The method is equivalent to a label that cannot be removed," Robert Grass, lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH Zurich, told R&D Magazine. The tags are inexpensive, easy to make and safe to eat. [
R&D Magazine via
Popular Science]

M&M's Go Mega: Candy maker Mars has introduced a new "Mega"-size M&M that's about twice as big as a regular M&M. Measuring 2.12 centimeters, as opposed to 1.04 centimeters, in diameter (or about the size of a nickel), the new M&M Mega also contains about three times as much chocolate as a regular M&M, the Los Angeles Times
reports. So is bigger better? According to the Times, one onlooker called the new candy "a horse choker," while another wondered, "Is that an antacid?" Funny. There's a new peanut M&M Mega, too, which features both more chocolate and a bigger peanut, though it apparently doesn't look as freakishly supersized as its nut-free counterpart. [
Los Angeles Times]

DIY Food Porn: People who like to take pictures of their meals at restaurants and post them on social media, take note: South African ISP MWEB is
launching #dinnercam — "the world's first portable photo studio for restaurant meals" — to help users snap drool-worthy, studio-perfect images to share with friends on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The device, which is accessible to diners at a restaurant in Cape Town, El Burro, promises to "take social media food shots to the next level." Shove over, smartphones. [
MWEB via
Foodbeast]